Towards a more collaborative economy in Belgium

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Resources for Start-ups

Based on my experience of interacting with over 30 start-ups in the last year (Sept ’14-Sept ’15), there are a few resources I think can help get you started….

Know why you do what you do

I believe that happiness in what you do may not guarantee success (as the idea could simply be bad) but it significantly increases your chances of success. For this, you need to know “Why” you are launching that specific business, as;

once you understand it, it is easier to articulate it to others

if you want to crowd fund, it is a key success factor

if you need a partner and a team, it helps to align the interests of various parties

Understand how to transform the idea into an activity and then a business

Very often, entrepreneurs are not structured. They think it constrains them and slows them down. For this with little or no business experience, this can be a problem as they don’t understand their target market, their costs, their business model etc… and they don’t have a plan. I recommend getting the right balance between speed and structure. To do so, use your “Happy Canvas” as input to your business model. You can do one online via https://www.tuzzit.com . Here is a quick video to explain the concept

Know where to go for help

Belgium has lots of public structure to help you “Structures d’accompagnement”, more and more incubators, co-working spaces, mentors etc…. too many to list here. In addition, there are subsidies you can use to pay professionals to help you on this journey such as the “bourse de préactivité”. Here are a few useful links: